Galati prepares to open new Spearwood store

VideoWATCH: Tony Galati is preparing to open the doors of his new Spearwood Spudshed on Thursday.

Spud king Tony Galati is gearing up to hand out a massive 100 tonnes of potatoes when Spudshed opens its newest store on Thursday, marking an occasion particularly close to his heart.

The 11th Spudshed is opening in Mr Galati’s former stomping ground of Spearwood, not far from where the family business started in the 1960s.

Tony and brothers Vince and Sam grew up helping their Sicilian parents run a 2ha market garden in the area. After school, they would lend a hand by harvesting potatoes and picking beans.

Spudshed said it was expecting 25,000 visitors within the first four days of the Spearwood store opening on Thursday, many of whom would be familiar faces.

The 100-tonne spud giveaway will be Spudshed’s biggest ever.

And ahead of the opening on April 4, Mr Galati has taken a walk down memory lane, revisiting his old school, football ground, and the house his father stayed in on his first night after arriving in Australia, for an advertisement to air on Channel 7 this week.

“Our roots are in Spearwood, it’s our old stomping ground, so it had always been a frustration that until now we were not able to offer people here a Spudshed,” Mr Galati said.

Although not planned, when the 2000sqm former IGA premises in the Stargate Shopping Centre on Rockingham Road became available this year, Mr Galati seized the opportunity to open a 24-hour store.

Mr Galati said he and his brothers used to shop in the same building, then a Freecorns, with their mother.